Apple AirPlay unlocked

AirPort Express hardware sims are go

The cryptography Apple uses to secure AirPlay wireless media streams - and to prevent anyone easily supporting the protocol for playback - has been cracked.

Frustrated by the lack of a third-party AirPort Express simulator - APEx is Apple's mini access point-cum-media streaming terminal - coder James Laird opened one up and reverse engineered the crypto keys from the gadget's Rom chip.

The resulting code, called ShairPort, allows content held in an iTunes library to be streamed to third-party software and hardware.